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Chocolate spill creates sweet mess on Arizona highway

The 3,500 gallons of chocolate was liquid because it was being stored in the tanker at 120 degrees.
The 3,500 gallons of chocolate was liquid because it was being stored in the tanker at 120 degrees. The 3,500 gallons of chocolate was liquid because it was being stored in the tanker at 120 degrees.

Authorities in northern Arizona had a mess on their hands after a truck crashed on a major highway, spilling a river of liquid chocolate onto the road surface.

The incident on Monday occurred on Interstate 40, about 11 miles east of Flagstaff.

Clean-up crews had to pour most of the 40,000 lbs (18,000kg) of chocolate into the highway central reservation in order to lighten the damaged tanker so it could be towed away.

The chocolate was liquid because it was being stored in the tanker at 120 degrees, and equated to 3,500 gallons.

Unsurprisingly, sweet-toothed Twitter users were quick to react by offering help with the clean up.

Many referenced Roald Dahl’s classic kids book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as they felt their Willy Wonka fantasies were being realised.

User @whizkidrcd tweeted: “Not quite the Wonka experience I’ve dreamed about for 30+ years but I’ll take it!”

Meanwhile, some thought the chocolate needed something more.

User @MEINAZ2 tweeted: “Where’s a tanker truck filled with peanut butter when you need one?”

State Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said there were no injuries from the incident.